Automobile-indicator.



I. A. wEscIIIIt lAUTOIIIOBILE INDICATOR. APPLICATION FILED Dzcf'. IsIIe.

Patented Sept. 17,1918.

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To all whom t may concern:

Be t known that l, Func A. Wnsco'r'r, a citizen of the United States, residing at Corning, in the county of Steuben and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Automobile-Indicators, of which the cation.

The present invention relates to combined course indicators and license tag illuminator's for automobiles.

permit a compact assemblement of various 'indicating means which will designate the course to be taken by the vehicle and which will permit the application of the usual license tag in a manner which will illuminate the entire face of the tag in order that the characters thereon may be clearly distinguished for a great distance., lt is to be understood that the invention may be applied either on the front or rear of a vehicle,

or both.

The indicating means in this invention comprise a plurality of characters which may be separately illuminated at the w1ll 'of the operator.

Other features of the invention will later appear from the following detailed description and from the drawings which illustrate the invention Figure 1 is a front elevation of the inven- "tion illustrating the application of the usual license tag thereto;

Fig. 2 is a rear view of the invention with the back plate'removed, and

Fig. 3 is a View taken substantially on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1.

Like characters denote similar like parts throughout the specification and drawing.

vWith particular reference 1 represents a casing adapted to house and support the indicating means and comprises a front and back plate 2 and 3, respectively, held in spaced relation by the side and top walls of the casing, preferably formed by single strips 4 of metal. It will be seen following is a specito the drawings Patented Sept. d?, i913.

Application iled December e, 1916. Serial No. 135,834.

from the drawings that the plates 2 and 3,4 have their side portions cut away so as to converge upwardly, thereby reducing the size 4of the device and rendering it more compact as well as reducing the cost of manufacture. The lower portions of the front and back plates 2 and 3 are bent inwardly, at substantially right angles, to abut as indicated at 7 and are then extended downwardly in juxtarelation to form a flange 8 to be presently more in detail referred to. lt will be noted, however, that the plate 3 is only extended inwardly at 6- for a comparatively short distance with respect to the. inward extensions 5 of the plate 2. rlhe lower edge of the plate 3 is upturned over the lower edge of the plate 2 as indicated at 9 so as to' embrace or form a seat for the lower edge of the plate 2. The casing, thus provided, is divided into the various compartments in which are disposed illuminating means for purposes which will be presently understood.

The partition 10 extends horizontally across the casing 1 dividing it into upper and lower compartments and preferably consists of a metallic strip secured at its front and side edges to the front and side walls of the casing, respectively by any suitable means such as solder, or the like. rllhe rear edge of the partition 10 is bent laterally thereto to engage with the rear wall 3 in order to prevent the light in the upper compartment from penetrating into the lower compartment. The front plate 2 has the portion thereof opposite the upper compartment formed with an elongated horizontal opening 11 therein covered by a translucent plate 12 secured in position by the screws or other fastening means 13. The plate 12 may have suitable characters placed on its inner face which will be visible from the outside of the casing when the upper compartment is illuminated, however, it is preferred to place a stencil 14, of a'shape correspending to said plate 12, in liuxtarelation with theinner surface of the plate and also held in position by the fastening means 13. An electric -sooket 15 is disposed in the upper compartment and mounted on the' partition 10. The lower compartment of the casing is divided by vertical partitions 16`and 17 which provide a central compartment o and end compartments e. The cen' tral compartment c is illuminated by an electric bulb which is fitted in the socket 18 disposed and mounted therein, and the front plate 2 has an elongated opening 19 therein, opposite said compartment a and directly under the opening 11 the opening 19 being 'mounted therein and the front plate v2 at portions opposite these compartments is formed with the circular openings 23 and 24. The opening 23 is covered by a translucent plate 25 which is, preferably backed by a stencil 26 which has suitable characters to indicate that the course to be taken by the vehicle will be to the right; and the opening 24 is likewise covered by a translucent plate 27 backed by a stencil 28 which will indicate that the course of the vehicle will be to the left. In the present instance the vstencils bear the characters R and L,- however, it is to be understood that an arrow or any suitable character whichA will serve the purpose may be provided on the stencil. The plates 25 and l27 and their respective stencils are held in suitable position by means such as the screws 29. It will be noticed that from the peculiar shape of thecasing that the end compartments e, e, in which are lodged the course indicators, are disposed at the lower extremities of the casing and at one side of the tail light and the stop signal, it being understood that the stencil 14: bears suitable characters which indicate that the vehicle has stopped.

The casing 1 may be applied to the vehicle in any suitable manner and the sockets 15,

18 and 22 are connected in any suitable manner to a source of electrical energy carried by the vehicle which will permit the lamps to be individually illuminated by the manipulation of a suitable switch carried at a convenient place on the vehicle.

The invention further contemplates theA adaptation of the usual license tag to the signal box in a manner that the characters will be illuminated to such a degree as to be readily distinguished at a comparatively great distance. To accomplish this purpose the depending {iange 8 is inclined to form an acute angle relative to the extension 5 of the plate 2, as shown in Fig. 3, and has the license tag secured thereto by suitable means such as the screws 30 which extend through the flange, it being noted that the screws 30 also securely hold the lower ends of the plates 1 and2 into position. The license tag L is, by virtue of the inclination of the flange 8, at a suitable angle out of the` vertical as to have its front or characteredv/'surfarce entirely illuminated by the light reiected through an opening 31 formed c and through said extension 5, this opening,31 being elongated and extending the full lengthA of said compartment. A glass plate 32 covers the opening 31 and is held in position by the clips 33 and 34, the former being held in position between the abutting ends 7 of the plates 1 and 2 and the latter being preferably stamped from the extension 5. Arcuate reflectors 35 are disposed in the ends of the central compartment c so that the light in the compartment may be reflected to cover the entire surface of the license tag from end to end, and in a mann'erlwhich will be readily understood. These reflectors 35 are held in position by solder,

screws or other suitable means as may be found convenient. The charactered surface the bottom of the central'compartment4 and license plate L so held'and illuminated will be easily distinguished and read at .a distance of 150 feet or more accordingto the atmospheric conditions.

From the above it will be lnoted that a combined indicator, and license tag holding and illuminating device of a novel construetion is devised, the principal .features of which arethe simplicity of construction and the few parts necessary for its completion. The parts of the device4 may be readily stamped .and assembled Awithout great cost, however, producing a durable-device which is eilicient and desirable for its purpose. It is preferred that the indicating means in the present device are not visible until'the various compartments are each illuminated so that the light will penetrate the openings in the stencil.

The above specifically describes the preferred embodiment of the invention, however, this construction may be changed and any other arrangement and organization of parts may be resorted to which does not depart from the legitimate scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is 1. An automobile signal, which comprises a casing having approximatelythe shape of a trapezium, the upper wall of which is made from a single piece of metal with flanges formed on its edges, a front wall having spaced openings of different sizes and shapes and having a bent lower portion terminating in a downwardly depending liange, two of said openings being in vertical alinement, one of the latter openings being provided with a translucent plate having characters thereon, the other of the openings being provided with a translucent colored plate to serve as a tail light, a partition secured horizontally in the casing and provided on its rear edge with a vertical flange having spaced holes therein, a back wall for the casing having its upper edge nieuwe with smaller compartments adjoining, each one of the remaining openings in the front wall being disposed in front of a smaller compartment, means for illuminating the vseveral compartments and their openings,

and spaced curved reectors in the central compartment to direct light through the opening in the bottom wall.

2. An automobile signal, which comprises a casing having approximately the shape of a trapezium, the top wall being made of a single piece having a portion adapted to lie paralledto and spaced from the bottom, and

connected to the bottom wall by slopingA portions, the edges of the top wall .being bent at right angles to form flanges, front and back plates serving'as walls, each plate having the approximate shape of a trapezium with their upper and sloping' edges adapted to engage with the flanges of the top wall, an L-shaped partition extending lon gitudinally of the casing and having its ends in contact with and secured to the sloping portions of the top wall, the longer portion of thepartition extending transversely of the casing 'and subdividing the casing into compartments, the edge of the longer portion of the partition being in contact with the inner surface of the front wall, the shorter portion of the partition extending vertically and in contact with the baclr wall, means for securing said shorter portion to said back wall, said back wall being bent inwardly and forming a portion of the bottom wall of the casing, said bottom wall portion having a downwardly portion terminating in a recurved end, the front wall of the casing having a bent portion adapted to form the remainder of the bottom wall which is proi vided with a downwardly projecting flange whose free end is adapted to seat in the recurved end of the downwardly projecting portion of the back wall, spaced vertical par# titions extending between the bottom wall and the longitudinal partition to form compartments, the center one of which is larger than the others, the front wall being provided with a plurality of openings having translucent material serving as closures therefor, each of said openings being in one wall of each of the compartments, and the bottom wall portion of the front wall being also provided with an opening having a translucent closure, a lamp socket in each of the compartments, and reflecting means in the lower central compartment serving to direct the light rays outward and also downward toward the projecting Hanges,

ln testimony whereof I aiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FRED A. WESCOTT.

Witnesses:

M. E. JONES, EDW. R. WALTON, Jr. 

